Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

While the Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge has been invaluable in teaching me numerous bread baking skills, it's kept me so busy baking delicious white breads that I've had to take a break from experimenting with recipes containing my true love: whole grains. I've been eyeing this recipe for whole wheat pizza crust from King Arthur's Whole Grain Bakingfor quite some time now and finally found time to make it over the weekend.

I will say that had I not spent so much time learning my newly acquired bread baking skills through the Challenge, I would have failed miserably with this recipe. Working with wet dough was something I'd had no experience with until the past two months. And because of that experience I was able to pull off this pizza perfectly!

This recipe does include some white bread flour, but still comes in at 75% whole grain. Nice compromise, I say.

The night before you want to make the pizza, combine the pre-ferment ingredients in a small bowl and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let sit at room temperature for 12-15 hours.

The next day combine the pre-ferment with the remaining ingredients in a mixing bowl and using dough hook, knead the dough for about 5 minutes. This is a wet dough and is best kneaded by machine. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes.

Turn the dough onto a heavily floured work surface and give it a fold. Use a bench knife or dough scraper to help you fold the dough over itself, as you would a business letter, brushing any excess flour away as you fold, to keep from incorporating raw flour into the middle of the dough. Next fold the dough in a similar fashion, this time from the long ends, to make a packet. Cover the dough loosely with plastic wrap that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Let it rise for 30 minutes then repeat the folding process. Do this every 30 minutes for 2 hours, for a total of 4 folds.

Divide the dough in half and form each piece into a round. Cover them with plastic wrap and let them rest for 30 minutes to 1 hour.

While dough is resting, place pizza stone in oven and preheat oven to 500 degrees.

Sprinkle a sheet of parchment paper with semolina flour or cornmeal. Place dough round in center of parchment paper and with floured hands or rolling pin, stretch or roll dough into a rectangle or circle. You'll want the dough to be fairly thin, but be careful not to poke holes through it.

Moogie: We'll be out of town for Halloween weekend so the only treats I'll be making will be the ones to give to the co-irkers this Friday and next. Probably pumpkin cakes or cheesecakes, I'm thinking.

Steph: actually cooler is better in this case for the night pre-fement, so that cool kitchen might work just fine!

Sharon: Thanks for commenting! I most certainly will check out your recipes.

Mags, that looks wonderful! We eat pizza every Friday night, and I usually use the Olive Oil Dough from Artisan Breads in 5 Minutes a Day. I think I may try this one soon though, because well, we love to try new things. ;)

About Me

This is my documentation of my life after turning 50. Lots of recipes, some healthy, some not so much... tossed up with a hefty dose of sarcasm and motherly love.
My email address: maggielauerrdh(at)yahoo.com